JOIN US “Everything they (government) do after the filing of the petitions is subject to the outcome of the petitions. We do not know what they are doing. But if they do, it is subject to the outcome of our order,” a Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said.
The Bench made the observations on the plea by an NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, which was seeking a direction to the government to restrain it from regularising the licence of the telecom companies which had failed to meet the roll-out obligations.
NGO’s counsel Prashant Bhushan said the government was regularising the licences of the companies by imposing penalties on the companies.
“If the licences are going to be cancelled, it cannot be cancelled only on the basis of the CAG report,” the Bench said.
Advocates Harish Salve, Abhisekh Manu Singvi, Soli Sorabjee and others, appearing on behalf of various telecom companies, contended that there could be a host of errors in the computation of the loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore by the CAG. Attorney General G E Vahanvati sought three weeks to respond saying that the issue of regularisation of licences was pending before Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal.
Bhushan, however, insisted on urgent interim orders to be passed restraining the government from regularising the licences by imposing penalties against the companies which failed to meet the roll out obligation.
The court was hearing two petitions filed by CPIL and Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy seeking cancellation of the licences of 2G spectrum allotted during the tenure of former telecom minister A Raja alleging large-scale irregularities.
The CPIL has also filed separate application against the government policy of regularising the licences on payment of penalties by the companies.
During the hearing, Bhushan submitted that the CPIL has raised five grounds for cancellation of the licences of 2G spectrum.
He said the spectrum was allocated without auction at the price prevailing in 2001 and the cut-off date was advanced which resulted in the elimination of two-third applicants.
Further, 85 out of 122 entities were ineligible operators and 69 of them failed to meet their roll-out obligations, Bhushan added.
The Bench said all these factors will be considered at the time of hearing.